Katharine Patricia
by epichlexi
Summary: Helen reflects on the past year and a half, her relationship with Nikola, and the life-changing event they have experienced. Just the start of an AU series I have had flying around in my head.


**This idea was given by a random object generator, to include four random objects in a fic. So I figured such randomness fit Nikola and Helen, here is my take on "a plush rabbit, a spoon, a notebook, and a butter knife." It is my first venture into an AU universe where I see them together with a child. **

**Of course, I own nothing, I'm not making any money off this, it's just putting my crazy thoughts down in writing.**

**Enjoy!**

xxxxx

Helen was sitting at her desk, sorting through the seemingly endless stack of paperwork and mail that seemed to accumulate every single day. And not just her desk, Will had nearly as much to sort through each and every day as well. It was hard to believe, even with the amount of supplies ordered and classified files catalogued daily in the worldwide Sanctuary Network, that all of these forms were only from today. She must have spent three hours a day just signing all of forms in the mountain.

Across the room, over by the window was the playpen she'd had set up some time ago to allow her to work and keep an eye on Katie at the same time. Helen looked over at her 10-month-old daughter and smiled. She was sitting there holding her beloved stuffed rabbit, given to her by Will and Abby shortly after she was born. The rabbit was pale yellow and had a little white dress and bonnet. Katie loved it and wouldn't sleep without it.

Katie looked over at Helen then and cooed a little, bored and, Helen realized looking at the clock, probably hungry. "Oh, I'm sorry darling; it's getting to be about lunch time isn't it?" Helen smiled and got up from the desk, walking over to lift her daughter out of her crib. "Let's go see if we can get Daddy out of the lab long enough to join us for some lunch, shall we?" Katie's face lit up at the mention of her father, and Helen knew her baby girl approved of the idea.

She had to be honest. Two years ago the idea of starting over, having another child, would have seemed overwhelmingly impossible and a potential for great heartache. With Ashley's death seven years ago, Helen had abandoned the thought of being a mother ever again. And then things had changed. With John, yes, but more so with Nikola.

xxxxx

After the destruction of the Old City Sanctuary, Helen had revealed the new Sanctuary, located in Hollow Earth, to her team one at a time. After this, Nikola had decided to stay, realizing after believing that he had lost Helen for good that he did not want to just fade away and lose touch with her again for months, years, or even decades as he had after she helped him fake his own death in 1943.

As for Helen, she had already had 113 years to reflect on everything in her life from the past, present and future of the Sanctuary Network, to her feelings and personal decisions about many people and situations in her life. One such factor that had taken up a lot of her thoughts over those 113 years had to do with defining her feelings toward Nikola for herself once and for all.

By the time she returned, she had come to the realization that he spoke the truth when he had told her in Rome that he had always loved her. Despite their banter, his childish rhetoric at times, and her own fears and scars from the past, with so much time to reflect and re-observe her own life and decisions, she realized that she did love Nikola too.

Then she had come back and encountered the whole SCIU fiasco, and discovered that Nikola was the head of the testing facility in New Mexico. The shock and betrayal of that had hurt more than she had let on at the time, though she had stated plainly to him that he had betrayed her, and she knew despite his hesitation to speak of it, that Henry had also tossed in his two cents when he'd had the chance to do so. Then Henry had almost been lost, and Nikola had readily insisted on going after him himself, through the rift field and into the habitat the inter-dimensional creature had created for itself.

Helen could still feel her own heart racing in anticipation and anxiety as she waited at the other side of the rift, knowing the creature had retreated back and Nikola and Henry were still on the other side, vulnerable to the hostile, squid-spider-alien-like abnormal who had been terrorizing the SCIU facility and already claimed other victims. Then the relief she felt when the gate opened in front of her and the HAP and vampire walked through together, the creature on their heels. It had nearly gotten Nikola in a last attempt, but grabbing the controller, Helen had been able to close the rift on it and free him from its hold at the last second. When Henry and Helen returned to Old City, Helen had expected not to hear from Nikola again anytime soon. After all, he had refused to give up his post at SCIU and therefore they were on opposite sides. But when Henry realized that a massive amount of sensitive data from SCIU's inventory and planning had been loaded into his tablet, Helen had discovered Nikola's true colors and true allegiance. When he was fired from SCIU some months later, she was more than a little relieved that she would no longer have to keep him out of the loop on her plans for the future of the Sanctuary. And days later, when everything unfolded and the world went to hell, Helen had been eagerly looking forward to having him come join the team permanently in the new Sanctuary.

And at first, that was all that had been decided. Nikola would join the Sanctuary team and work alongside Henry, doubling their tech productivity and efficiency. He had been given a room located a healthy distance down the hall from Helen's, and some rules had been put in place regarding playing nice in the lab and the wine cellar. Team members were not to be insulted or called by ridiculous nicknames just to get under their skin. The lock on her bedroom door was not to be in any way tampered with, whether picked, or magnetically manipulated. He had agreed to these terms with that mischievous charmer's grin that told her that he was working a loophole in his mind for his own entertainment, but she hadn't pressed it at the time. He was staying, that's what she cared about.

The rules, Helen later came to discover, had lasted exactly three weeks, three days, three hours and three minutes from the moment he had agreed to them in her office. He'd stood outside her bedroom door one night to wait until exactly 11:36 and then she had heard the lock being tampered with. She'd had little doubt who it was, and for old time's sake reached under the pillow to retrieve her gun, aiming it at the door just as it opened.

And there he was. Standing there in his suit with that… utterly irresistible grin on his face.

"Forgetting the rules, Nikola?" But the smile only grew. "Rules are made to be broken, and I thought you might enjoy sharing a drink." He had in his possession one of the much nicer wines from the wine cellar, one Helen had put in the section he had been told strictly to keep out of without her permission. She realized now that she would have to check and see how many times he'd broken _that_ rule before tonight.

"Not these ones, I'm afraid." She shook her head but lowered the gun she'd had pointed on him. He smirked and stepped closer. "Now, that is much better hospitality Helen, well done."

"What do you want, Nikola?" Helen's patience was waning even as her curiosity as to his usual antics was just as sharp as ever. As she had once told Will, it was Nikola's secrets and agendas that made him so interesting.

"I already told you, I thought you might like to share a drink." Nikola took a few steps closer to her bed and finally was right beside it, setting a pair of wine glasses down on the nightstand table and then took the bottle of vintage red he had brought in with him to open it.

"That's from the high shelf opposite the door. Nikola, I told you to stay out of that without my consent." Helen shook her head but said nothing specifically telling him to stop. It had been a long day and a glass of wine would be nice about now, even if she had to tolerate the adorably infuriating vampire in the process.

"Yes well, you also told me the same thing about your bedroom and yet here we are." Helen sighed, deciding to pick her battles and caved, nodding her approval for him to continue.

Ironically, it was three glasses and three kisses later that she'd found herself unable to keep her feelings to herself anymore. Luckily, alcohol didn't affect Nikola the way it still could Helen, and he had been a gentleman about things, not making any secret of the fact that yes, he loved her and wanted to be with her, but no, not while what she was saying was being in any way influenced by the wine.

Two days later, alcohol had not been a factor when a pleasant conversation by the bay window had turned into much more. And from then on they had just known. Known it was right, known it was real, known it was exactly what both of them wanted and needed. To be together, to be honest and open with each other and acknowledge the feelings they had both been more or less keeping at bay for over 120 years.

Four months later had come the news that they were expecting a child. The others had barely begun to comprehend, let alone accept, Helen and Nikola's relationship when Helen found herself staring at a computer monitor with some (mildly) surprising blood test results on the screen. She was pregnant, about five weeks at that point based on the hormone levels reported in her blood work.

After taking a few moments to process the news, and a bit of consideration, Helen decided that the best way to tell Nikola would be straightforward and honest. If she waited on this too long or beat around the bush, he would likely be upset with her for keeping such important information from him.

She knew she could find him in the tech lab, and so that is where she headed next. Despite his antics and mischief during every other waking (and non-waking) hour, she had to give him credit for the fact that he took his work very seriously as well and was reliable about keeping on top of things in the lab day to day. Even at random times, if she couldn't find him in the library or wine cellar, she knew he was likely in the lab still working on something that had eluded him earlier and had been working in his mind ever since.

Walking down the hall, she paused at the doorway to the tech lab. Henry was just passing the doorway on his way to meet Erica and Alistair for lunch, "oh, hey Doc how's it goin'?" The HAP smiled as he paused to greet Helen. "Very well, Henry; is Nikola in the lab?"

"Ah, yeah, he's tryin' to adjust the spectrum settings on that heat ray gun I was having trouble getting to work right. Says something must be wrong with the calibrating equations." Helen nodded, "Thank you Henry." "Sure thing," he replied and smiled, heading off on his way to find his wife and son.

Helen walked into the lab and past the small alcove which had obstructed her view of the lab initially. "Nikola?" sure enough, as Henry said he was rather absorbed in some sort of calculations, leaning over a work table and tapping a pen on a notebook. She recognized most of what he was looking at as schematic sketches for the weapon in question, which Henry had conceptualized weeks ago but was having trouble turning into a reality.

He didn't seem to notice her come in. He tended to get rather obsessive over his work, especially when he was trying to fix something that wasn't working properly, even if it was really Henry's project.

"Nikola," she said his name again, more firmly. He looked up and set the pen down at the same time, "Helen!" He seemed a little surprised to see her, but greeted her with a smile. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from you in the lab in the middle of the day?"

Helen smiled, "Well I thought you might like to join me for some lunch, and there is something I'd like to speak with you about, but not… right here in the lab. Join me up on the roof?" She tilted her head a bit to the side and gave him that look he couldn't resist; the one that invited him to a bit of banter or mischief and he grinned. "Very well, I guess Wolfie's fry beam can wait til after lunch." Helen nodded, "Excellent." She had already paged the Big Guy and asked him to bring her lunch to the little set up on the roof rather than her office today, along with some of Nikola's preferred wine.

They went up to the roof and were seated at the little table she'd had set up there. It wasn't like it was going to get rained on in Hollow Earth. Nikola was watching her the whole time, as if he could see the wheels turning in her mind and was trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"So," Helen took a deep breath and took a butter knife to add a little extra mustard to her sandwich before continuing, "How do you like working at the Sanctuary full time?" Nikola smiled at her across the table and leaned in a bit toward her as he cast her a playful look. "Oh I'm liking it very much, and the… perks are beyond excellent." He said this with a glance over her that she couldn't help but smirk at and shake her head a little, as if she felt obligated to disapprove at least for a moment. "For heaven's sake, Nikola…" she trailed off then, reminding herself to get back to the reason for bringing him here, out of earshot of the rest of her team. They deserved time to process this together, just the two of them, before fielding a thousand and one questions from the others.

"So, this arrangement is working well for you?" She stuck to their understanding of speaking as if they were referring to work, when the meaning of their relationship was clear between both of them. They had known each other over 130 years, they each knew very well that the other understood the play of intent. "Something you'd like to keep to, long term?"

Nikola's smile only grew at that and he gave the slightest nod of his head, barely perceivable and that was how Helen always knew he meant what he was about to say, no matter the wording or tone, no matter how ridiculously teasing he seemed. "Oh, quite long term. It's working very well for me. What about you?"

Helen smiled, "quite well. That's …. What I wanted to talk to you about, actually. It seems something rather unexpected has happened and I want you to keep an open mind."

"You know my mind is always open; genius, remember?" Nikola grinned and Helen sighed, shaking her head. "Focus, Nikola, please. What I am about to tell you is important." Nikola sobered, nodding, "All right. I'm sorry, you have my undivided attention. What's up?"

"I'm pregnant."

All in all, Helen had to admit that Nikola had taken the news better than expected. After a few moments of initial shock wore off, he had a few predictable questions: how far along was she, when did she find out, etc. She answered each in turn, and just let him absorb the news at his own pace. By the end of the conversation, she was shocked to see him seeming truly excited about the news of a child. A little too excited, she feared, and before releasing him back to his lab for the afternoon, she had sworn him to secrecy. "Nikola, let's keep this to ourselves for now. The others have barely grasped the idea that we are together, let's give it a little time before we break the news that we're having a baby."

Nikola nodded at that, "Yeah. Give the children time to adjust to one thing at a time. Plus, I kind of like the idea of sharing a secret with you, a good secret." Helen smiled and just shook her head a little, a hand came to his arm and she just leaned in to press a light kiss to his lips before resuming her professional demeanor. "Go back to work, Nikola. I have to get back to my office before the paperwork grows legs and walks out of here on its own."

"You wouldn't want to put the Carpet out of the job…" he began, but Helen shushed him with a playful slap to his arm. "Nicknames, Nikola. We've talked about this." He grinned brightly and walked away, leaving her standing there trying to suppress a laugh at his antics as she went back inside to return to her work.

They had managed to keep their secret another two weeks. It wasn't quite as long as Helen might have liked, but the fact was that Will got suspicious when Helen had gone from her usual hands-on, front lines approach with missions, even the more dangerous ones, to taking a step back and letting her protégé take charge of the missions. One day after a mission to a case a few miles north of New City to capture a lizard-bird hybrid that was terrorizing a residential neighborhood, Will entered Helen's office.

"Magnus, do you have a minute?"

"Certainly, Will." Helen was just looking over some paperwork, which was seemingly endless around here. "How did it go with capturing the cortivar?"

"Fine, fine… He's all settled into the SHU, the Big Guy's making up a schedule for his feedings and all. Henry's cataloguing him in the Sanctuary database." Helen smiled, nodding proudly at the fact that everything had gone so smoothly. She didn't doubt Will's capabilities with these day to day missions in the least, "Excellent."

"Magnus, is everything… all right?" Will watched her with concern across the desk from where he had sat down in one of the chairs opposite her. "Of course Will, right as rain," Helen replied with a smile, but she knew her protégé would keep digging until he got some answers. He had picked up that something was different.

"Are you sure? Because the past couple of weeks you haven't been on one mission outside the Sanctuary. I've never seen you take yourself off the mission list this long, even after you almost got blown to bits at the hotel where we had to stop those terrorists from killing the governmental officials consolidating under SCIU, or when you dropped that Ozone beetle to make us think you killed the Big Guy… In fact, he says he's the only one here who ever **has** seen you off missions for any extended period and that was …" Will trailed off. He didn't want to cross a line and yet he realized it may have been too late. If he was wrong, he had already said far too much.

"When I was pregnant with Ashley; yes, Will, that's right." Helen nodded and glanced down at her desk without another word.

"Magnus?" Will's brow rose as he watched Helen. "I don't really want to pry but…"

"I'm seven weeks pregnant, Will." Helen's dark blue eyes met the surprised gaze of her second in command. "Eight weeks come this Friday, actually." Will was dumbfounded. "You're… wow. Uh. So, Tesla…"

"That's right." She nodded. "We are in an exclusive relationship, after all. Despite your and Henry's refusal to accept such things, it is true." Helen's tone was mildly amused though and Will breathed a sigh of relief for that fact. "Yeah um, sorry, about that."

"Think nothing of it, Will. But please, don't tell anyone. Nikola and I have been trying to keep this to ourselves just for a few more weeks until …. Well until we're confident that things are going well." Will nodded, he understood the desire to wait until the iffy early weeks had passed before making such a declaration to everyone closest to them. "My lips are sealed, Magnus. I'm a doctor too you know, confidentiality is nothing new to me." "Thank you, Will." Helen nodded.

"Oh and uh… Congratulations." Will smiled as he stood from where he was seated opposite Helen at the desk. "I should really get back to work now." And just like that, Will had left and the cat was out of the bag, partially at the very least.

The Big Guy had figured it out by chance a few days later when a sudden uncharacteristic aversion had Helen refusing anything to do with the chicken salad she usually enjoyed for lunch at least once a week. "Huh, no chicken salad? Helen?" He had regarded her with a mix of confusion and concern, "are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine, old friend. I just… I'm not very hungry at the moment, perhaps I'll find something later, for now, though, I think I'll try to get ahead on these forms."

"Huh, ah, not like you." Biggie shook his head. "What are you pregnant? Hah?" He was half-joking but the glance Helen gave him told him everything. His eyes widened and then he laughed. "Please, don't say anything. Will already figured it out but Nikola and I haven't officially told Henry or the others yet…" Biggie nodded. "Secret's safe with me!" As he picked up the lunch tray again leaving her just the tea which she took with a grateful nod. "A baby! Hah, wonderful. Congratulations!" Helen sword that the Big Guy was equally excited to have another young child around the Sanctuary. As much as he sometimes denied it, he thrived on the presence of young children in their home. He had been so wonderful with Ashley and Henry when they were young, and now he doted over Alistair like an adoring, tall, hairy grandfather.

Henry and Erica had been told early the next week; the fact was their secret was already halfway out of the bag and Nikola and Helen decided they might as well just be out with it. Their news had been received with a bit of shock and plenty of well wishes and excitement.

Things had gone well for the most part after that. After a bit of discussion, Helen and Nikola had decided not to find out the sex of the baby, despite a bit of protest from the "children" who were eager to know.

"Thank you all for your opinions, but this decision is for us to decide," Helen had chimed in calmly when Nikola's demeanor betrayed his annoyance with their badgering for the news.

Another three months had passed, then four. No major crises (on a Sanctuary scale) had come up in recent weeks and Helen was grateful for the relative peace in the later weeks of her pregnancy. She had forgotten how trying the last month or so could be in the nearly three decades since she had been pregnant with Ashley.

Nikola had shown the patience of a saint with her complaints, her moods. She knew she had given him an incredibly difficult time the past couple of weeks but sometimes she just felt she couldn't help it. Finally, in the early morning of May 16, her water had broken, three weeks ahead of schedule but it seemed their child was ready to make his or her debut nonetheless.

Erica had helped her monitor the labor and only Nikola otherwise had been allowed in the room. Twelve hours ticked by while Will, Henry (with Alistair), and the Big Guy waited impatiently, pacing the medical ward or occasionally venturing off to another part of the Sanctuary for a few moments to get something to eat or a little fresh air. Henry also had to leave as needed to put Alistair down for a nap or get him some food. Word had been sent to Kate and she had shown up with Garris several hours before the birth and they had joined the guys in their anxious waiting. Finally, around supper time, the Big Guy had reluctantly gone down to the kitchen to make something quick for everyone and returned twenty minutes later to Will's office, which had become the unofficial waiting room for the bunch, with a tray of grilled cheeses and bowls of soup. Making anything more involved would take too long and he might miss something! After all, he had been in such a hurry he had nearly forgotten to bring spoons for the soup, and that sort of forgetfulness was not in the Big Guy's nature.

"Ah, news?" Biggie asked as he made his way into the room with the tray of food. "Nothing yet," Will answered. Henry shook his head. "This waiting is driving me nuts!" Kate smirked, "you're less patient now than you were when Alistair was born!" "I was allowed in the room then." Henry shrugged. He was nervous. He had put Alistair to bed a little early a half hour ago. He was on edge waiting on any news, and a little worried about Helen, the only "mother" he had ever known. This baby was going to be like a little sibling for him, something he hadn't had since Ashley, and he was anxious for news.

News had finally come three hours later with the intercom buzzing into Will's office and Erica's voice on the other end. "Anyone who would like to come back down here and meet the latest member of the Sanctuary team, Mummy and Daddy are accepting visitors for their little one, one at a time."

The scramble back to the elevator had been near-chaos. Henry barely remembered to grab the enhanced-range baby monitor and shove it in his hoodie pocket incase Alistair woke up.

When they arrived down to the medical ward, Erica and Nikola had met them in the main room. The decision had been made for Nikola to tell everyone at once what the baby's name and gender were, and then let the members of the team come in one at a time to meet the new arrival.

Nikola was standing there waiting, looking a little unlike himself in medical scrubs, probably a little tired but clearly ecstatic. "Well, well, gang's all here." He grinned. "All right, Vlad out with it already!" Kate piped up, anxious for the news. Nikola shot her an impatient but half-hearted glare and then smiled looking between the gathered souls who all loved Helen Magnus with all their hearts, each in their own way.

"It's a girl!" The group erupted into cheers and congratulations, and perhaps a word exchanged between Kate and Will to pay up on a bet. Once the noise died down a moment later, Nikola's smile only grew. "Katharine Patricia Magnus Tesla. And I think it's only fair that Heinrich be the first to come meet his 'sister', Henry?" He motioned to the HAP to follow him back into the room where Helen was with the baby.

xxxxx

Had it already been ten months since that night? Helen smiled and cuddled her baby girl close to her, her soft, fuzzy light brown hair brushed against Helen's cheek as she breathed in her baby scent.

"Ah Katie. The world we can offer you may not be the 'normal' life many children take for granted, but you are certainly loved." Helen smiled, her free hand lifted to touch the soft yellow ear of the stuffed rabbit that Will and Abby had given her daughter the day after she was born. Having Sasquatch for a nanny, a lycan for a brother, a vampire for a father and an immortal human for a mother had certainly been only the tip of the iceberg of the various ways Katie's life was already taking a much less typical shape than other baby's would have experienced, but all of these people were determined to make sure that she was surrounded by love and security. She was adored by a very unique family of people who would die for her, and Helen hoped that she would thrive in this place as Ashley had as a child.

"Let's go see if we can pry Daddy out of the lab and go have some lunch, shall we?"

xxxxx

**Well, there you have it. The start of my little AU set on Teslen love and family. I hope you enjoy! Reviews would be so awesome. I'll be working on another quite soon. **


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